Foundation Dundee has had a number of purpose-built theatres. Apart from early wooden theatres, the Theatre Royal in Castle Street opened in 1810 and became firmly established from the 1840s until 1885 when the new Her Majesty's Theatre and Opera House opened on the Seagate. Others included the Alhambra – renamed the Whitehall in the 1970s – the Palace, renamed the Theatre Royal in the 1960s, and the King's Theatre in the Cowgate which opened in 1908. By around 1920 many theatres had converted into
cinemas, and for most of the 1930s Dundee no longer had a designated drama theatre. Robert Thornely – Manager of the last touring company to perform in Dundee was determined to find a home in the city for his professional theatre company. He approached the Dundee Dramatic Society, an amateur company, who, also faced with nowhere to perform had recently purchased their own premises in the form of a disused
jute mill. In May 1939, Dundee Repertory Theatre was founded as a collaboration between professionals with amateur support. Around this time people thought it strange to be concentrating on drama during the turmoil of
World War II. However the company performed weekly
repertory during the war and the rest of the 1940s and throughout the 1950s. The company was housed in Foresters' Hall (6 Nicoll street to 3 Rattray Street) which was built for the
Ancient Order of Foresters in 1901, when in June 1963 a fire completely destroyed the building and the Rep was forced to live a nomadic existence for a short period. Eventually a temporary refuge was found in the converted former Dudhope Church on the Lochee Road of Dundee although the company remained at the venue for a further 18 years. In the late 1970s,
Charles Nowosielski had his directorial debut at the Rep, directing a series of short plays, including
Joan Ure’s
Something in it for Cordelia.
Construction of the theatre and early years After negotiation with the
City of Dundee District Council and the
Scottish Arts Council it was agreed that the company would have its own purpose-built premises on land donated by
University of Dundee. Work began in January 1979 under the leadership of
Robert Robertson who had been artistic director for a number of years and who was instrumental in overseeing the building and completion of the new theatre. However, the building work looked like being stopped in its tracks due to rising prices and inflation. A public appeal was launched which raised a massive
£60,000 in under six weeks, reaching an eventual total of £200,000 outstripping all possible expectations, in a city that was then in the midst of economic recession. The new theatre opened on 8 April 1982, designed by Dundee-based architects
Nicoll Russell Studios. The building proved a great success – with a personal 455-seater auditorium, providing one of the best stages in Scotland in terms of its relationship with its audience, it received a civic commendation from The Civic Trust Award in 1984 and in 1986 won the RIBA Architecture Award. Levick was replaced by Joe Douglas in April 2016 in the role of Associate Artistic Director.
2016–present In July 2016, Andrew Panton was appointed new artistic director at Dundee Rep and took over from Douglas the year afterwards. Since then Dundee Rep have teamed up with National Theatre of Scotland to present the World Première of the cult classic Let The Right One In, collaborated with the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh with Time and the Conways, presented the Scottish Premiere of David Greig's
Victoria. The Rep is now home to over 20 resident performers. In 2022, the building was
listed at Category A by
Historic Environment Scotland as "A rare and exceptional example of post-war theatre design".
Future In September 2018 it was reported that the Rep was considering leaving its current building for new purpose-built premises. The Rep's artistic director Andrew Panton stated that it had outgrown its present home and that the building needed a lot of work. Panton suggested that a newly built theatre should be able to seat 800 to 1000 people (as opposed to the current building's capacity of about 400) and have greater flexibility to be able to house different sizes of audience. He suggested that this could tie in to the Rep's 80th anniversary celebrations in 2019 and be the next major cultural project in Dundee following the completion and opening of
V&A Dundee in 2018. As of 2023, these plans have yet to come to fruition, possibly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and slow audience return in its aftermath. == Artistic directors ==